UConn football coach Randy Edsall squarely focused on season opener against Wagner

By Paul Doyle

Published
9:00 pm EDT, Thursday, August 22, 2019

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CROMWELL — The first question from the audience came 24 minutes into Randy Edsall’s speech at the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce breakfast Thursday morning.

The query: Are there opportunities associated with UConn’s 2020 shift to football independent?

One week before the start of the 2019 season and curious minds were pondering football life 12 months ahead.

“That’s a better question for my athletic director,” Edsall said, motioning to UConn AD David Benedict at the dais. “Our whole focus and attention is on this year, in terms of being in the (American Athletic Conference). I’m one of those guys, I try to put the blinders on and don’t worry about what’s in the future, focus on today.”

Say this for Edsall — he’s consistent. Since UConn announced it was leaving the AAC for the Big East and thus embarking on football independence, Edsall has repeated the Belichickian mantra that he’s moving on to Wagner.

He’s now days away from hosting Wagner in the season opener, so his focus is indeed on Game 1.

UConn football coach Randy Edsall appearing at the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce breakfast on Thursday, Aug. 22.

UConn football coach Randy Edsall appearing at the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce breakfast on Thursday, Aug. 22.

UConn football coach Randy Edsall squarely focused on season opener against Wagner

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“I’m not touching that,” Edsall said about conference talk.

That was about the only subject Edsall avoided in his annual preseason appearance. He talked about last year’s 1-11 season — statistically, a historically bad season — and explained the program’s need to play inexperienced players. He ran through the roster, from freshmen to seniors, from transfers to a critique of the kicking game.

There was a long discussion of leadership and maturity, which was lacking last season. And discipline, a theme Edsall continually repeated to a room that included local business people and a few high school football players.

Edsall told a story about walking into the team’s dining hall last year and seeing players staring at their cell phones. No interacting among the teammates.

So …

“I banned cell phones from the dining hall,” Edsall said. “They’ve got to sit there and talk to each other. Now you go into our dining hall, shoot, there’s so much noise it’s unbelievable. It’s really neat. It’s really neat to see.”

The newly renovated UConn locker room has chairs that face out rather than toward the locker. That was by design.

“They’ve got to face each other and talk,” Edsall said. “That’s one of the things that happened in this day and age, people don’t communicate. They just punch their fingers (on their cell phone).”

The overall communication, Edsall said, is better. He also told the audience that his players are bigger and in better condition.

Does all of this translate to more victories?

“I don’t know,” Edsall said.

But he later told the audience, “I’m excited about it, in terms of where we’re going and what we’re doing.”

But Edsall continually talked about the program’s lack of depth and experience as he and his staff audition players for roles. It will be ongoing, Edsall said.

In fact, UConn won’t release the traditional two-deep lineup each week. Edsall said he will simply list players alphabetically by position. No first string and second string.

“We’re probably going to play a lot of people this year,” Edsall said. “We’ve got eight guys on the defensive line that we know are going to play. The more that we can get guys involved that have earned the right to be on the field … the better the camaraderie, the better the organization is going to be.”

Edsall’s 35 minutes at the podium ended with a question about UConn’s beleaguered fans, who have witnessed the program stumble from a Fiesta Bowl participant in 2011 to a team with seven wins over the past three seasons.

“It seems that UConn football has a pretty fickle fan base. Do you have any thoughts on that going forward?’

Edsall had thoughts.

“Well, I agree with it,” Edsall said. “You hate to say it this way, but we’ve got to win. You know? We’ve got to win. It’s almost like it’s in the NFL. If you win, they come and see you. ...

“But that’s what we’ve got to do, we’ve got to win. If we win, we’ll end up putting people back in (the stands). They’ll come out. That’s what we had before. I get it. I understand it. We’re doing everything we can to make that happen.”